[Living Pathfinder] Little Rock of Horrors

Maidhc O Casain · Dec 15, 2010

Tagaiwi, eager to be off the rocking boat, ignores Pari's command to stay and leaps out into the surf and makes his way ashore ahead of the others.

Pari waits for shallower water, but isn't shy about getting his feet wet either.

vl.arandur · Dec 15, 2010

Ashleigh fairly leapt out of the boat; she'd been eager to start the voyage at the beginning, and now that she was fully acquainted with the sea, she was just as eager to get out of the overly cramped boat. Staying quiet through the post-landing jabber, she scans the isle, her scowl matching Giocco's in ferocity, if not confusion.

GlassEye · Dec 16, 2010

Surprise Round

The boat, filled to near overflowing with people who are eager to leave its confines, is barely to the shore when they all start leaping into the water at the edge of the rocky strand at one of the few places that looks like a boat is able to put to shore. Giocco grabs a rope and loops it around an outcropping of rock. "I don't know what they were," he says in response to Heinrich questions. "Just they wasn't what I was trying to summon all I wanted was a big bug, you know? The practice woulda done me good but I don't know what went wrong."

As the boy speaks Mariah's attention is caught by a glow at the top of the lighthouse. The boy wasn't entirely accurate in his statement that the light was out. There is a light but it is a dim, sickly green and certainly not the bright golden light that one would expect.

Ashleigh's attention is likewise drawn by an oddity. There is some sort of humanoid figure at the base of the lighthouse. Its body is broken and lies dead but a long smear indicates that it might have still been alive after it fell and was trying to crawl for help or... to the sea? As she looks closer she sees that the body is partially covered by patches of kelp.

Because their attention is diverted by those things Mariah and Ashleigh don't see what the other three see:
As Giocco picks his way over rocks and past a kelp-choked pool to tie up the boat a pale, green-skinned creature rises up from the pool. Its torso is humanoid but a pale, chalky green in color that darkens as it descends to a mass of leafy kelp, strands of which spread around it in the pool. Its arms are thick stems of kelp and it appears to be preparing to lash out at the unaware boy.

[sblock=Combat]
Note: this is a surprise round. Mariah & Ashleigh cannot act (you can still post for them if you want; just not combat actions). The others can take a single standard action. Garnet goes before the kelp creature. Heinrich and Pari (and Tagaiwi) can act after the kelp creature's action. As soon as I get Garnet's action I'll post the kelp creature's action. As long as you can act in a round you don't have to post in initiative order but actions will be resolved in initiative order. Hopefully this will enable combats to move along a little quicker than normal in pbp. Because of the small area everyone is within 20 feet of the creature but some movement will be required for any of you to engage it in melee.

Combatants posted in init order

Code:

[U]Character         AC  HP  InHand/Condition[/U]
Garnet            21  12   none/none
Kelpfolk           ?   ?   none/none
Ashleigh          16   9   none/none
Heinrich          12   6   none/none
Mariah            20   8   none/none
Pari              17  22   none/none
Tagaiwi           14  17   ----/none

[/sblock]

Maidhc O Casain · Dec 16, 2010

[sblock=GlassEye]No action yet - still trying to decide a couple of things.

I did want to note that Pari will cast Resistance every couple of minutes on himself so that it will always be active. Might as well take advantage of that unlimited usage, and it doesn't do any good if he waits until after he's been frightened/trapped/etc.

I understand he does not have it active at this point, since I didn't previously state it. He'll start after this combat.[/sblock]

mfloyd3 · Dec 16, 2010

r rocks and past a kelp-choked pool to tie up the boat a pale, green-skinned creature rises up from the pool. Its torso is humanoid but a pale, chalky green in color that darkens as it descends to a mass of leafy kelp, strands of which spread around it in the pool. Its arms are thick stems of kelp and it appears to be preparing to lash out at the unaware boy.

The stone of the beach jogs some memory of Garnet's girlhood. Things would rise from the brackish water that pooled in the mine, and some part of her mind draws her eyes to the shadowy tidepool. The leafy creature that rises from the pool is far less a surprise than it should have been.

"Get back, fool!" She yells, running forward and drawing the oversized axe from her back. She screams a Dwarven warcry and tries to position herself between the creature and the boy, brandishing the enormous blade.

OOC: Not sure about the layout, but trying to interpose, or at least threaten the creature enough to have it strike out at Garnet. Unfortunately, charge is a full-round action so it's out for the surprise round.

vl.arandur · Dec 16, 2010

Ashleigh let out a little squeak of despair as she saw the dead body and the blood and the... the k-kelp..... and she quickly retreated to the back of her mind, letting her backmind surge forward and fill her body with a cold, happy rage. Time to burn, her new self thought as she grinned, turning in place to examine the battlefield behind her.

Lord_camulus · Dec 17, 2010

Mariah has always been attracted to the color green. Probably because that is the color of her mother's eyes.

(Girlish flashback)

It was a wonderful spring morning just like many that the young girl had experienced in previous years, except this one had on defining difference. Mariah was getting a new baby sister. For what seemed like hours she had waited with her father in the dining hall waiting for any news of the birth. Mariah was getting impatient however for years her eight year old brother had tormented an teased her to no end, now with a new baby her brother might split some of his attention between the two.
"Roo." her father called to her with a calming chuckle. Roo was a pet name he gave to her after he found her talking to a rooster telling the foul to stop bugging the hens. "You have to calm down my child or you will faint from exhaustion." But she couldn't calm down she was going to have a little sister or at least that is what a local fortune teller told her and for a six year old a baby changes a lot."
Just then the midwives came into the room motioning for Mariah's father to come in...

The memory triggered by the pale green light quickly fades as Mariah is pushed out of the way by a pair of strong dwarven arms and nearly knocked off the longboat.

Maidhc O Casain · Dec 17, 2010

The movement of his companions around him draws Pari's attention. Reflex takes over and the Gnome quickly calls a ball of fire to hand, tossing it quickly at the strange kelp creature.

[sblock=Actions/Rolls]Produce Flame, thrown at the creature.

To Hit, Damage (1d20+3=17, 1d6+2=3)[/sblock]

GlassEye · Dec 17, 2010

Surprise Round

Giocco jumps in surpise and drops the rope as Garnet yells and throws herself forward to protect him. When he sees the kelp creature he scrambles away but loses his footing on the slippery rocks and doesn't make it very far.

The creature whips around towards Garnet in a wet rustling of leaves and the twined strands that form its arms lash out slapping against the dwarfs armor but not striking anywhere that could do any damage.

Fire flies from Pari's hand to strike the creature with a sizzle of damp leaves and a rising whisp of steam. The creature shrieks in pain and tilts its head back and releases a shrill, ululating cry.

[size=+1]"Ulu-lu-lu-lu-lu!"[/size]

[sblock=Combat]
Heinrich's action will finish out the surprise round (when we get it). Garnet's action will begin Round One.

Combatants posted in init order

Code:

[U]Character         AC  HP  InHand/Condition[/U]
Garnet            21  12   waraxe/none
[color=green]Kelpfolk[/color]         <18   [color=yellow]7[/color]   none/none
Ashleigh          16   9   none/none
Heinrich          12   6   none/none
Mariah            20   8   none/none
Pari              17  22   none/none
Tagaiwi           14  17   ----/none

[/sblock]

Aldern Foxglove · Dec 17, 2010

[sblock=Produce Flame]Technically Produce Flame requires a standard action to cast and a standard action to throw - so you cannot actually hurl it until the turn after you cast it. The effect of the spell is a flame in the palm of your hand as opposed to a ray, etc.

I've always thought it a rather obnoxious rule, and I would be fine with house ruling it, but Produce Flame is a worthwhile spell even with the rules as written especially when you have a few levels behind you.[/sblock]